Perhaps not easy on the eye but He's very good at them tho
No conclusions can be drawn at all. It's all pure speculation.It is hard not to conclude that MP was the reason he did not sign before.
And the reason he did not leave in the summer was it was common knowledge that MP was very likely to be leaving shortly.
It might not be personal - MP thinks in terms of 5 year projects and JM thinks in 3 year projects. It is reasonable to think Alderweireld will be playing to a good level in 3 years. 5 years is pushing it.
Long balls from the back for the next 3 years
...which only actually happened once or twice.It's better than watching them fannying about with the ball, losing it, conceding a goal, and looking like complete mugs.
They are 'Hoddle-esq' passes from a centre back. Incredible.Long balls from the back for the next 3 years
It's not like we're a long ball team now, is it. We've had a few more long balls recently, but it's not like that's our only outlet. Most of our goals have come from build up play. Having Toby's passes are an option if we need it. It's not like we're just banging them up front and hope someone gets on the end of it. If he sees someone running into space which could lead to a goal, why wouldn't we take that option?Long balls from the back for the next 3 years
...which only actually happened once or twice.
There's a good deal of exaggeration about this. We would pass around the back every few minutes, which would give fans palpitations and created the impression of a problem, but it almost never led to a chance and we conceded a goal as a result no more than once or twice.
The "near-escapes" are moments that worried the fans. They did not constitute reasons to change the strategy. The only ones that counted against that were the goals conceded there weren't enough of them to reckon with.How many times did we have near escapes though? Many, many times. How many times did we do it, passing about back there, resulting in putting Lloris in the shit which resulted in Lloris lobbing it out for a throw in over the heads of either Rose or Trippier? Millions of times.
Great news. His form has maybe dipped a bit over the last number of months but now that his contract situation has been put to bed I hope that he can rediscover the performance levels that I have always believed has made Toby our most important player. The rock of our team!!
He's not that old, the droop doesn't happen until you get into your 50sLong balls from the back for the next 3 years
The reason many fans had palpitations is because whilst we were passing from the back there were too many occasions when we were not in control of the play, we were passing through panic and not with any idea of where the pass was going and we were getting found out.The "near-escapes" are moments that worried the fans. They did not constitute reasons to change the strategy. The only ones that counted against that were the goals conceded there weren't enough of them to reckon with.
I prefer the more varied approach we are taking now, but passing it about in defence and then distributing it progressively through midfield is a key part of modern football tactics.
We do a more varied approach than just long balls I think.The "near-escapes" are moments that worried the fans. They did not constitute reasons to change the strategy. The only ones that counted against that were the goals conceded there weren't enough of them to reckon with.
I prefer the more varied approach we are taking now, but passing it about in defence and then distributing it progressively through midfield is a key part of modern football tactics.